Fabrics obtained by weaving warps and wefts have conventionally been used widely as an industrial fabric. They are, for example, used in various fields including papermaking fabrics such as papermaking canvases, non-woven cloth making fabric, sludge hydrating fabric, building material making belts and conveyer belts. In this connection, the applicant developed the two-layer fabric of yarn-contact binding yarn type without independent binding yarns (refer to Patent Publication 1).
The above industrial fabric has to be processed to be in an endless form to be used with being mounted on machines such as a papermaking machine, a hydrating machine, etc.
With respect to method of processing the industrial fabric to be in an endless form, there are many ways. For example, a so-called weave patching method, a method in which each of loops is formed at the both ends of the industrial fabric itself by using its warps to be aligned with each other, and then a joint wire core is introduced into holes of the loops, a method in which the joint wire core is introduced after spiral loops are arranged at both ends of the fabric so as to be aligned with each other, and a method in which the joint wire core is introduced after so-called clipper racing which is a metal hook is mounted on both ends of the fabric are publicly known (refer to Patent Publications 2,3 and 4). These well-known methods are adopted in accordance with an application.
Among the above methods, in the method in which each of loops is formed at the both ends of the industrial fabric itself by using its warps to be aligned with each other, it is possible to freely form the fabric to be an endless form or so as to have ends by introducing the joint wire core or pulling out it. If the fabric can be freely formed to be an endless form or so as to have ends, the fabric can be formed to be an endless form with being wound around a machine after the fabric with ends is wound between rolls of the machined, in a case where the fabric is mounted on the machine, which enables the fabric to be readily and efficiently mounted on the machine.
For example, one end of a new industrial fabric is connected to the one end of after the old industrial fabric which has been used for a long time is formed so as to have ends with being mounted on the machine, and then, the machine can be operated. Based on the above, after the industrial fabric is shifted between the rolls of the machine so as to be wound around the rolls, and then, the fabric is made a round to be entirely wound around the machine, the old industrial fabric is removed and the new industrial fabric can be formed to be an endless from so as to be mounted on the machine.
However, since, in the above joint loop structure used at present, the warps forming the loop at the end portion of the fabric has to be turned back, it is used only in a single layer fabric in the patent documents 2 and 3, or a simple two-layer fabric. It is technically difficult to use said joint loop structure in the industrial two-layer fabric using a novel warp fabric yarn-contact binding yarn.
In case of the method of the patching in a weaving form in which it is impossible to freely form the industrial two-layer fabric in an endless form or the one with ends, so-called a cantilever method is needed. In the cantilever method, the rolls of the machine are supported at its one side, and the industrial fabric is introduced from the one side of the machine in the widthwise direction to be wound around after pillars, etc. which hinders such an introduction at the other side are removed. However, a special structure for removing the fabric is needed for the machine itself in order to carry out the method of the patching in a weaving form under the cantilever method, so that the cost for manufacturing the machine has to be increased. In addition, it is often pointed out that there are technical disadvantage that the machine has to be enlarged, or a wider space for arranging the machine is needed. Further, in case where the industrial fabric which is heavy or very long is used, it becomes difficult to introduce the industrial fabric.
Therefore, it is desired that a method in which the loops are aligned with each other to attain an endless form be adopted in the industrial two-layer fabric using warp fabric yarn-contact binding yarns.
Patent Publication 1: Japanese Patent No. 3925915
Patent Publication 2: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication 2000-290854
Patent Publication 3: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication 2000-290855
Patent Publication 4: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication 2003-96683